INEC should include candidates pictures & names on ballot papers just like Liberia—YIAGA

Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation, says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should include candidates’ names and their pictures on ballot papers as it is done in Liberia.

On October 10 Liberia held its general election where citizens elected a president, 15 senators and 73 members of the house of representatives.

In a statement on Tuesday, Samson Itodo, executive director of the organisation, said Yiaga deployed an election study and observation mission (ESOM) to understudy the electoral governance architecture in Liberia between October 7 and 13.

Itodo said during the elections, the team observed a firm commitment to transparency on the part of Liberia’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) in managing the results tallying process.

He said at the polling places and tallying centres, the NEC officials prioritised the openness of the process over the speedy completion of the process.

“The National Elections Commission (NEC) displayed high devotion to rules and procedures throughout the elections,” the statement reads.

“Polling officials displayed excellent knowledge of the rules and enforced the guidelines at all election levels. In cases where the rules were flouted, the NEC rectified the issues expeditiously based on a detailed procedure outlined in the guidelines.

“Yiaga Africa’s Election Study and Observation Mission (ESOM) observed the design of the ballot papers used for the Presidential and National Assembly elections, containing the party symbol as well as the names and pictures of the candidates; Presidential, Senate and the House of Representatives candidates.

“As a general principle, all voters in Liberia are legally required to vote in polling places where they are registered.

“However, exceptions are made for Liberian citizens on essential election duties such as polling officials, election observers, security officers and any citizen providing support to election observers, e.g., drivers.”

Yiaga said INEC should commit to greater transparency in election administration through proactive disclosure of election information and consistent application of election rules and guidelines.

The organisation also recommended that INEC should review the format of ballot papers used in Nigeria elections “to include photographs and names of candidates to improve the quality of electoral preferences and reduce invalidated votes”.

“INEC should undertake a comprehensive audit of the voter register to eliminate duplications, multiple registrants and ineligible voters to improve the integrity of the voter register,” the organisation recommended.

“The audit process should be subjected to an independent citizen review to engender public trust.

“The National Assembly and INEC should amend the electoral legal framework (Electoral Act and INEC Guidelines) to introduce early voting to allow eligible voters on essential election duties, such as security personnel, INEC staff, election observers, journalists, etc., to vote at elections.

“The National Assembly should review the Electoral Act to address the ambiguities in the results collation and transmission process and the role of technology in the results management value chain.

“The National Assembly should strengthen the electoral law to make electronic transmission of results mandatory, including the upload of polling unit-level results and results sheets used at different levels of results collation.”